New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday arrested two persons following the seizure of detonators and other incriminating materials during searches in Koderma district of Jharkhand.

The searches, conducted at four locations in connection with a 2024 motorcycle blast that took place in the Saltora area, led the NIA teams to the arrest of accused Mahesh Mehta and Shankar Yadav, said an official statement.

The duo was found actively involved in a criminal conspiracy related to unlawful storage of explosives and their transportation to co-accused, endangering life and property, said the NIA.

Three other accused were earlier arrested and chargesheeted in the case RC- 16/2024/NIA/DLI, which the NIA had registered in October 2024, it said.

During Thursday’s searches, a total of 1,662 illegally hoarded non-electric detonators were seized, along with five digital devices and Rs 16 lakh in cash, the NIA said.

The case originated from an explosion that had led to the death of one accused, identified as Joydeb Mondal @ Bablu Mondal, during illegal transportation of explosives.

During the investigation, the NIA had subsequently uncovered a criminal conspiracy relating to storage and transport of explosives, procured illegally without a valid license.

The anti-terror agency found a clandestine network operating the storage and transportation process, along with dangerous and improper handling of the explosives.

The NIA is continuing with its investigation to identify the source and intended destination of these explosives.

In a separate development, an NIA Special Court at Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) convicted and sentenced three accused in a terror conspiracy related to radicalisation, recruitment and support for the banned CPI(Maoist) terrorist organisation to five years’ jail each.

The accused, Dongari Devendra, Dubashi Swapna and Chukka Shilpa, were members of Chaitanya Mahila Sangam (CMS) – an outfit working for CPI (Maoist), the NIA said.

The court sentenced each of the accused, who were arrested in June 2022, to Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) of five years under sections 18, 18B, 20, 38 and 39 of the UA(P) Act in case RC-02/2022/NIA/HYD.

–IANS

rch/dan